The Stepping Stone Cycle is an episodic series of cosmic horror novellas set in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos by Gary A. Ballard, the acclaimed indie author of the cyberpunk series The Bridge Chronicles. It is being released as a series of novellas, each around 30,000 words, released exclusively as eBooks. Four of the six books planned have been released.

Forensic psychologist Dr. Jack Carter wakes from a semi-catatonic state with no memory of the previous year. Jack is the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Sarah.When a serial killer in coal country claims to have killed her, Jack and FBI Agent Bill West investigate, finding a deeply disturbed amnesiac and a deeper cosmic mystery that goes beyond anything they could imagine.

While searching for his missing wife, Dr. Jack Carter is drawn to the site of a gruesome double murder in small-town Mississippi. Two normal teen boys have killed two girls with the same name as Jack's wife, quoting lyrics from a doom metal song before killing themselves. Their mother sues the band, and when Jack joins the case, he finds a mystery that threatens to destroy his fragile sanity.

Forensic psychologist Dr. Jack Carter has had to question his own sanity after the disappearance of his wife, Sarah. Called to consult on a mother’s mental health after she confesses to drowning her five children, Jack finds evidence of a powerful supernatural entity called The Sleeper, spreading murderous corruption through the mentally unhinged.

In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. Forensic psychologist Dr. Jack Carter is suspected of killing his wife though he has no memory of it, His investigations keep returning to the mysterious entity known as Cthulhu. Jack and his psychologist Dr. Martin Dyer are all drawn to the Virginia Barrier Islands to investigate a serial killer. What secrets lie beneath the island?

Called "captivating, with characters very well developed and the plot develops with just the right pace," the Stepping Stone Cycle is a series of novellas by Gary Ballard set in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Each novella is written as if it was an episode on a television series, and this compilation contains the the first three episodes of season 1 - First Stone, The Metal Black and Drowned.